Methods and systems for transmitting packets through an aggregated connection

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses methods and systems for transmitting a received packet at a first network node through an aggregated connection. The first network node determines session information of the received packet and determines whether a new tunnel needs to be selected for transmitting the received packet. When a new tunnel needs to be selected, a hash result is determined. The hash result is substantially based on the session information and the number of available tunnels. A first tunnel is determined for transmitting the received packet according to the hash result. The session information and tunnel ID of the first tunnel is then stored in a first database. The received packet is transmitted through the first tunnel. When a new tunnel need not be selected, a lookup is performed to determine a tunnel ID substantially based on the session information. The received packet is transmitted through the determined tunnel.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates in general to the field of computernetworks. More particularly, the present invention relates to methodsand systems for transmitting a received packet at a first network nodethrough a tunnel of an aggregated connection comprising a plurality oftunnels. The tunnel may be selected according to session information ofthe received packet.

BACKGROUND ART

A multi Wide Area Network (WAN) Site-to-Site VPN router is a router thatsupports aggregating the bandwidth of multiple interconnections, e.g.,WAN connections or tunnels for accessing one or more remote privatenetworks. In some implementations, when there are multiple tunnelsavailable in an aggregated connection, packets of each session may berouted to the multiple tunnels in order to utilize the bandwidth of themultiple tunnels. For example, in a session based site-to-site virtualprivate network (VPN) connection VPN traffic is routed to multiple WANconnections between two sites (e.g., sites A and B).

In some scenarios, when packets of the same session are transmittedthrough different tunnels of an aggregated connection, it may bepossible that the performance experienced by the packets is notsatisfactory. This may happen due to interference. This is more likelyto happen when the signal quality is not good, for example, in wirelesscommunications in public areas. Therefore, a solution is required formaking packets belonging to a particular session to be transmittedthrough the same tunnel, even when other tunnels are available. Anotherbenefit of using only one tunnel to transmit packets of a particularsession is that it allows all packets of the particular session toexperience similar performance.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Summary of Invention

The present invention discloses methods and systems for transmitting areceived packet at a first network node through an aggregatedconnection. The aggregated connection comprises a plurality of tunnelswhich are established between the first network node and a secondnetwork node. The first network node determines session information ofthe received packet and determines whether a new tunnel needs to beselected for transmitting the received packet. When a new tunnel needsto be selected, a hash result is determined. The hash result issubstantially based on the session information and the number ofavailable tunnels. A first tunnel is determined for transmitting thereceived packet according to the hash result. The session informationand corresponding tunnel ID of the first tunnel is then stored in afirst database, and the received packet is transmitted through the firsttunnel. Alternatively, when a new tunnel does not need to be selected, alookup is performed in order to determine a tunnel ID substantiallybased on the session information. A tunnel is then determined fortransmitting the received packet based on the tunnel ID, and thereceived packet is transmitted through the determined tunnel.

According to one of the embodiments, the session information is based,at least in part, on one or more of a source IP address, a destinationIP address, a source MAC address, a destination MAC address, a VLAN tag,a source port number, and a destination port number.

According to one of the embodiments, a new tunnel is selected when thereceived packet is a first of a session, i.e., the received packet isreceived earliest among other packets of the session. According to oneof the embodiments, a new tunnel is selected when a second tunnel, thathas been used to transmit one or more sessions, is dropped, broken, orterminated. When the second tunnel is dropped, broken, or terminated,one or more new tunnels may be selected for the one or more sessionsrespectively. A new tunnel may also be selected when performance of athird tunnel deteriorates, where the third tunnel has been used totransmit one or more sessions.

According to one of the embodiments, the available tunnels are assignedwith weights. The weights are assigned according to a policy, and thepolicy is based on one or more of the following criteria: performance ofthe tunnels, service provider, usage limit, location, time, usage price,security, user identity, Internet Protocol address range, communicationprotocol, communication technology, application, and device.

According to one of the embodiments, the first network node sends thesession information and the corresponding tunnel ID of the first tunnelto the second network node. The second network node stores the sessioninformation and corresponding tunnel ID of the first tunnel in a seconddatabase. The second network node then transmits packets with thesession information to the first network node through the first tunnel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The ensuing description provides preferred exemplary embodiment(s) only,and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configurationof the invention. Rather, the ensuing description of the preferredexemplary embodiment(s) will provide those skilled in the art with anenabling description for implementing a preferred exemplary embodimentof the invention. It being understood that various changes may be madein the function and arrangement of elements without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments maybe practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits maybe shown in block diagrams in order not to obscure the embodiments inunnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits, processes,algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessarydetail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Also, it is noted that the embodiments may be described as a processwhich is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, astructure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describethe operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when itsoperations are completed, but could have additional steps not includedin the figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, aprocedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination corresponds to a return of the functionto the calling function or the main function.

Embodiments, or portions thereof, may be embodied in programinstructions operable upon a processing unit for performing functionsand operations as described herein. The program instructions making upthe various embodiments may be stored in a storage medium.

The program instructions making up the various embodiments may be storedin a storage medium. Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storagemedium” may represent one or more devices for storing data, includingread only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), random access memory (RAM),magnetic RAM, core memory, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, CD-ROM, flash memory devices, a memory card and/or othermachine readable mediums for storing information. The term“machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to portable orfixed storage devices, optical storage mediums, magnetic mediums, memorychips or cartridges, wireless channels and various other mediums capableof storing, containing or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. Amachine-readable medium can be realized by virtualization, and can be avirtual machine readable medium including a virtual machine readablemedium in a cloud-based instance.

The term computer-readable medium, main memory, or secondary storage, asused herein refers to any medium that participates in providinginstructions to a processing unit for execution. The computer-readablemedium is just one example of a machine-readable medium, which may carryinstructions for implementing any of the methods and/or techniquesdescribed herein. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks.Volatile media includes dynamic memory. Transmission media includescoaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics. Transmission media canalso take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generatedduring radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

A volatile storage may be used for storing temporary variables or otherintermediate information during execution of instructions by aprocessing unit. A non-volatile storage or static storage may be usedfor storing static information and instructions for processor, as wellas various system configuration parameters.

The storage medium may include a number of software modules that may beimplemented as software code to be executed by the processing unit usingany suitable computer instruction type. The software code may be storedas a series of instructions or commands, or as a program in the storagemedium.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor forexecution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk from a remote computer. Alternatively, a remote computercan load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send theinstructions to the system that runs the one or more sequences of one ormore instructions.

A processing unit may be a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), any combination of those devices, or any othercircuitry configured to process information.

A processing unit executes program instructions or code segments forimplementing embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore,embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware,middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or anycombination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middlewareor microcode, the program instructions to perform the necessary tasksmay be stored in a computer readable storage medium. A processingunit(s) can be realized by virtualization, and can be a virtualprocessing unit(s) including a virtual processing unit in a cloud-basedinstance.

Embodiments of the present invention are related to the use of acomputer system for implementing the techniques described herein. In anembodiment, the inventive processing units may reside on a machine suchas a computer platform. According to one embodiment of the invention,the techniques described herein are performed by computer system inresponse to the processing unit executing one or more sequences of oneor more instructions contained in the volatile memory. Such instructionsmay be read into the volatile memory from another computer-readablemedium. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in thevolatile memory causes the processing unit to perform the process stepsdescribed herein. In alternative embodiments, hardwired circuitry may beused in place of or in combination with software instructions toimplement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are notlimited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

A code segment, such as program instructions, may represent a procedure,a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module,a software package, a class, or any combination of instructions, datastructures, or program statements. A code segment may be coupled toanother code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receivinginformation, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents.Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded,or transmitted via any suitable means including memory sharing, messagepassing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of, or incombination with, software instructions to implement processesconsistent with the principles of the invention. Thus, implementationsconsistent with principles of the invention are not limited to anyspecific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

A network interface that may be provided by a node is an Ethernetinterface, a frame relay interface, a fibre optic interface, a cableinterface, a DSL interface, a token ring interface, a serial businterface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, Firewire interface,Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) interface, etc.

A network interface may be implemented by a standalone electroniccomponent or may be integrated with other electronic components. Anetwork interface may have no network connection or at least one networkconnection depending on the configuration. A network interface may be anEthernet interface, a frame relay interface, a fibre optic interface, acable interface, a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) interface, a token ringinterface, a serial bus interface, a universal serial bus (USB)interface, Firewire interface, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)interface, cellular network interface, etc.

A network interface may connect to a wired or wireless access network.An access network may carry one or more network protocol data. A wiredaccess network may be implemented using Ethernet, fiber optic, cable,DSL, frame relay, token ring, serial bus, USB, Firewire, PCI, or anymaterial that can pass information. An wireless access network may beimplemented using infra-red, High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), HSPA+,Long Term Evolution (LTE), WiMax, General packet radio service (GPRS),Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates forGSM Evolution (EDGE), Code division multiple access (CDMA), WiFi,CDMA2000, Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Time Division CDMA (TD-SCDMA),BLUETOOTH, WiBRO, Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO); Digital EnhancedCordless Telecommunications (DECT); Digital AMPS (IS-136/TDMA);Integrated Digital Enhanced (iDEN) or any other wireless technologies.For example, a network interface may be used as a local area network(LAN) interface or a wide area network (WAN) interface

Embodiments, or portions thereof, may be embodied in a computer datasignal, which may be in any suitable form for communication over atransmission medium such that it is readable for execution by afunctional device (e.g., processing unit) for performing the operationsdescribed herein. The computer data signal may include any binarydigital electronic signal that can propagate over a transmission mediumsuch as electronic network channels, optical fibers, air,electromagnetic media, radio frequency (RF) links, and the like, andthus the data signal may be in the form of an electrical signal, opticalsignal, radio frequency or other wireless communication signal, etc. Thecode segments may, in certain embodiments, be downloaded via computernetworks such as the Internet, an intranet, LAN, metropolitan areanetwork (MAN), wide area network (WAN), the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN), a satellite communication system, a cable transmissionsystem, and/or the like.

FIG. 1A illustrates system 100, which is a network environment accordingto various embodiments of the present invention. A plurality of tunnelsmay be established between network nodes 106 and 108 throughinterconnected networks 110. The plurality of tunnels may be combined oraggregated to form an aggregated connection. Host 111 and laptop 112 maybe connected to network node 106 through one or more of the networkinterfaces of network node 106. Host 111 and laptop 112 may be locatedin a local area network (LAN) of network node 106. Similarly, host 121and server 122 may be connected to network node 108 through one or morenetwork interfaces of network node 108. Host 121 and server 112 may belocated in a LAN of network node 108. Network node 106 may connect tointerconnected networks 110 through one or more wide area network (WAN)interfaces of network node 106 and network node 108 may connect tointerconnected networks 110 through one or more WAN interfaces ofnetwork node 108.

A plurality of tunnels may be aggregated, combined or bonded together toform one aggregated connection. Those skilled in the arts wouldappreciate that there are myriad ways to aggregate, combine, or bond aplurality of tunnels to form one aggregated connection. An aggregatedconnection is perceived as one connection by sessions or applicationsthat are using it. An aggregated connection can be perceived as atunnel, a virtual private network or connection or connectionlessoriented connection. For example, an aggregated connection is aTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection. In another example, anaggregated connection is a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) connection. Inanother example, an aggregated connection is an aggregation of aplurality of tunnels, and each tunnel is established between networknodes 106 and 108. In another example, an aggregated end-to-endconnection is a VPN tunnel, comprising a plurality of tunnels, and eachtunnel is established between network nodes 106 and 108.

FIG. 1B illustrates system 100 adapted according to embodiments showingtunnels between network nodes 106 and 108. When establishing a bondedconnection between sites 102 and 104, such as by implementing a bondedsite-to-site VPN connection, M×N virtual tunnels 116 may be created.Site 102 and network node 106 may comprise M connections 112, and site104 and network node 108 may comprise N connections 114. Connections 112and 114 are access connections for communicating information withininterconnected network 110 between sites 102 and 104. In the illustratedembodiment, M is equal to 3 and N is equal to 2; however, these valuesmay vary according to desired devices and configurations. Connections112 and 114 may have similar or differing bandwidth capabilities.Further, connections 112 and 114 may comprise different types of WANconnections, such as a WiFi, cable, DSL, T1, 3G, 4G, LTE, satelliteconnections, and the like. It is also noted that site 102 and site 104may be thought of as both a sender and receiver, and discussionsregarding the functionality of either site may be implemented on theother site. In other words, system 100 may be implemented as asymmetrical network. Virtual tunnels 116 correspond to a uniquepermutation of the network connections of site 102 and the networkconnections of site 104. An aggregated connection is formed betweennetwork nodes 106 and 108. Connections 112 and 114 are embodied aslogical connections.

Host 111 and laptop 112 may be located in site 102, and host 121 andserver 122 may be located in site 104.

A host, such as host 111 and host 121, can be a computing device, alaptop computer, a mobile phone, a smart-phone, a desktop computer, apersonal digital assistant, or any other electronic device that iscapable of connecting to a network node and to interconnected networks.

Server 122 may be a database server, file server, mail server, printserver, web server, gaming server, application server or the like.Server 122 is a computing device which may be connected to one or moreclients through interconnected networks 110 or any other network andthrough network node 108. Server 121 can also be a virtualized server.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative block diagram of a network node, such asnetwork node 106, according to one of the embodiments of the presentinvention. Network node 106 comprises processing unit 201, main memory202, system bus 203, secondary storage 204, and plurality of networkinterfaces 205. Processing unit 201 and main memory 202 are connected toeach other directly. System bus 203 connects processing unit 201directly or indirectly to secondary storage 204, and plurality ofnetwork interfaces 205. Using system bus 203 allows network node 106 tohave increased modularity. System bus 203 couples processing unit 201 tosecondary storage 204, and plurality of network interfaces 205. Systembus 203 can be any of several types of bus structures including a memorybus, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of busarchitectures. Secondary storage 204 stores program instructions forexecution by processing unit 201.

Network node 108 may have substantially the same block diagram as thatof network node 106 as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Network nodes 106 and 108 may work as a gateway, a router, a switch, anaccess point, a hub, a bridge, etc.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process according to one of theembodiments of the present invention. The process of FIG. 3 may beperformed at network node 106. When network node 106 receives a packetfrom host 111 or laptop 112 in step 301, processing unit 201 of networknode 106 determines session information of the packet in step 302.Details regarding session information are discussed later. In step 303,a first tunnel is selected for transmitting the packet based on thesession information of the packet. Network node 106 then transmits thepacket to network node 108 through the first tunnel in step 304.

Packets of the same session are preferred to be transmitted through thesame tunnel for various reasons.

One of the reasons is that when packets belonging to a session aretransmitted through the same tunnel, the packets are likely toexperience similar network performance, such as latencies, bandwidth,etc. Therefore the packets are likely to arrive at network node 108 insequence. It would be known to those skilled in the art that for certainprotocols, such as TCP, when one or more packets are missing, thereceiving end may assume that the one or more packets are dropped. Itmay be possible that packets that are later in sequence than the one ormore missing packets have already arrived at the receiving end. Sincethe transmitting end does not receive any acknowledgement correspondingto the one or more missing packets, it may start transmitting the one ormore missing packets again, and may also again transmit the packets thatare later in sequence. This may be a waste of resources, as the packetsthat are later in sequence are received twice. In order to avoid this,packets of the same session are transmitted through the same tunnel.

Another reason is that using two or more tunnels simultaneously for aparticular session, the performance experienced while transmittingpackets belonging to the particular session may not be satisfactory dueto interference. This is especially true when the signal quality is notgood, for example, in wireless communications in public areas. It ispossible that when packets belonging to a particular session aretransmitted through the same tunnel, i.e., using only one tunnel at agiven time, the performance experienced while transmitting packets maybe better. For this reason, it may be desirable to assign a tunnel to asession, so that packets belonging to the session are only transmittedthrough the selected tunnel.

In one example, the session information may be determined by inspectingthe header of the packet. Header of the packet may be used to determinethe session information based on source address, the destinationaddress, protocol, port number, and etc. The determination may also beperformed using deep packet inspection techniques to inspect payload ofthe packet. For example, for determining session information ofHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) sessions, payload of the packets maybe inspected by checking the uniform resource locator (URL) in the HTTPinformation of the packets or by inspecting the data in the payload ofthe packets.

It is possible that a packet may not belong to any session. For example,the packet does not belong to any session if the packet is an AddressResolution Protocol (ARP) packet or Internet Control Message Protocol(ICMP) packet. When the packet does not belong to any session, a tunnelmay be selected at random for transmitting the packet. Alternatively, aparticular tunnel may be predefined by the user or administrator fortransmitting packets that do not belong to any session. A UDP packet mayor may not belong to a session. Those who are skilled in the art wouldappreciate that there are myriad ways to determine a session that an UDPpacket belongs to by inspecting the source address, destination addressand/or port number. Those who are skilled in the art would alsoappreciate that contents in the payload of an UDP packet can be used todetermine a session that the UDP packet belongs to. There is norestriction that a session is identified only by information in theheader of the packet and/or in the header of TCP/UDP. DPI techniques maybe employed to determine the session.

In one variant, for example, the session information is determined usingthe source IP address of the packet. The source IP address may beconverted into an integer value, which may be the session information,and then is used to determine a first tunnel through which the packetshould be transmitted. Therefore, it is possible that packets with thesame source IP address may be transmitted through the same tunnel, evenif they belong to different sessions. However, packets belonging to aparticular session may always be transmitted through the same tunnelsince their source IP addresses are likely to be the same. For example,laptop 112 establishes a file transfer protocol (FTP) session withserver 122. When packets belonging to the FTP session arrive at networknode 106 from laptop 112, the source IP address is identified as the IPaddress of laptop 112, and according to this session information, afirst tunnel may be selected for the FTP session. Laptop 112 mayestablish a video conferencing session with host 121, and when packetsbelonging to the video conferencing session arrive at network node 106from laptop 112, the source IP address is identified as the IP addressof laptop 112. A tunnel selected for transmitting the packets belongingto the video conferencing based on the session information may or maynot be same as the tunnel selected for transmitting the packetsbelonging to the FTP session, even though the session information, i.e.,the source IP address, is the same. This is because the result ofdetermination in step 303 may be different when the process of FIG. 3 isperformed at different times, as a selection process is applied to thesession information before selecting a tunnel.

In another variant, the session information is determined using sourceIP address and destination IP address of the packet. A combination ofthe source IP address and the destination IP address may be convertedinto an integer value, which may be the session information. The sessioninformation is then used to determine a first tunnel through which thepacket should be transmitted. Packets with the same source IP addressand same destination IP address may be transmitted through the sametunnel.

In another variant, port numbers of the packets are also taken intoconsideration when determining the session information. When packetshave the same port number, it may be an indication that the packetsbelong to the same application. A combination of the source IP address,destination IP address, destination port number and/or source portnumber may be converted into an integer value, which may be the sessioninformation.

In some scenarios, when the packet is not an IP packet, and is a layertwo packet, the session information may be determined using source MACaddress and/or the destination MAC address. For packets or framestransmitted by virtual LAN(s), the session information may be determinedusing VLAN Tag of an Ethernet frame, which may encapsulate a packet,such as an IP packet. For example, when host 111 transmits an Ethernetframe to network node 106 from one of its VLANs, the session informationmay be determined using the VLAN tag of the Ethernet frame. The sessioninformation may also be based on a combination of the VLAN tag and theMAC address of the host. In another example, when the Ethernet frameencapsulates an IP packet, the session information may be based on thesource IP address (IP address of the host specified in the IP packet),the VLAN tag, the MAC address, or a combination of two or more of them.Similarly the session information may also be based on one or more ofdestination IP address, destination MAC address, VLAN tag ofdestination, or a combination of two or more of them.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention, networknode 106 transmits a packet to network node 108 in step 304 byencapsulating the packet in an encapsulating packet. The encapsulatingpacket is then transmitted to network node 108. When the encapsulatingpacket arrives at network node 108, network node 108 may decapsulate theencapsulating packet in order to retrieve the packet. The packet is thensent to the destination of the packet by network node 108.

One of the purposes for encapsulating the packets inside encapsulatingpackets is to reorder the packets when the encapsulating packets arereceived at the other end of the aggregated connection, as theencapsulating packets may arrive out of order. The data packets may alsobe of varying protocols, and may be encapsulated inside encapsulatingpackets in order to fulfil protocol requirements of the aggregatedconnection.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process according to one of theembodiments of the present invention. Steps 403-407 are the detailedsteps involved in performing step 303 of FIG. 3. After determiningsession information in step 302, processing unit 201 determines in step403 whether any other packet belonging to the same session has beenreceived before, i.e. whether the packet is a first of the session, andwhether the packet is received earliest among other packets of thesession. If the packet is the first packet of the session, processingunit 201 performs a selection process by applying a hashing process tothe session information in step 404, and generates a hash result. Instep 405, processing unit 201 selects a new tunnel, such as a firsttunnel for transmitting the packet, and other packets of the session.The new tunnel is selected substantially based on the hash result. Thesession information and tunnel ID of the new tunnel is then stored in afirst database in step 406. The packet is transmitted through the firsttunnel in step 304.

Alternatively, if the packet is not the first packet of the session,processing unit 201 performs a lookup on a first database in step 407 inorder to determine a tunnel ID corresponding to the session information.Processing unit 201 then selects a first tunnel for transmitting thepacket according to the tunnel ID in step 408. The packet is thentransmitted through the first tunnel in step 304.

Processing unit 201 may be required to select a new tunnel in twoscenarios. One of the scenarios, as discussed in FIG. 4, is when areceived packet is a first of a session. Another scenario is when atunnel that was being used to transmit one or more sessions is dropped,broken or terminated, such that new tunnel(s) are selected fortransmitting the one or more sessions. The new tunnel is selected fromavailable tunnels.

The availability of tunnels may be determined according to variousparameters, such as bandwidth limit, usage price, latency, packet droprate, etc. For example, if a bandwidth limit of a tunnel is approaching,the tunnel may no longer be considered as an available tunnel so thatthe tunnel is not selected for any more new sessions. It may be known tothose skilled in the art that when a bandwidth limit of a tunnel isapproaching, more and more packets are likely to be dropped. Therefore,in order to limit the number of packets transmitted through the tunnel,the tunnel may be considered as not available for new sessions. Thetunnel may still be used to carry packets of sessions that the tunnelswere previously being used for.

In one variant, instead of assigning weights to the tunnels, the user oradministrator may define a maximum number of sessions that each tunnelmay be used to transmit. For example, when the number of sessions isdefined as ten for the first tunnel, the first tunnel may be selectedfor up to ten sessions, i.e., the first tunnel may be used to transmitup to ten sessions. As long as the first tunnel is being used totransmit less than ten sessions, the first tunnel may be considered tobe an available tunnel. If the tunnel starts being used for transmittingten or more sessions, the first tunnel may no longer be considered to bean available tunnel for further selection for new sessions.

The number of available tunnels may change from time to time. This isthe reason why a hash result for the same session information may bedifferent at different times. When a packet is not a first packet of thesession, the benefit of performing a lookup on a database to select atunnel for transmitting the packet, instead of performing the hashingprocess is that all packets of the session are then likely to betransmitted through the same tunnel. If the hashing process is performedfor every packet of the session, it is possible that another tunnel isselected for packets of the same session because the number of availabletunnels may be changed.

There is no limitation that hashing process method is the only method toselect an available tunnel based on session information. According toone of the embodiments, an arbitrary number is assigned to each sessionaccording to the session information. The arbitrary number may or maynot be unique for each session. For example, processing unit 201 may beconfigured to assign an arbitrary number in the range of 0 to 9 to eachsession, and the arbitrary number is assigned randomly. The arbitrarynumber may also correspond to a tunnel. For example, if an arbitrarynumber assigned to a session is 0, 1 or 2, the session is transmittedthrough a first tunnel. If an arbitrary number assigned to a session is3, 4, 5, or 6, the session is transmitted through a second tunnel. If anarbitrary number assigned to a session is 7, 8, or 9, the session istransmitted through a third tunnel. Alternatively, a tunnel, preferablyan available tunnel, may be selected for each session at random. Once atunnel is selected for a session, packets of the session are transmittedonly through the selected tunnel, until the tunnel drops or theperformance of the tunnel deteriorates. Processing unit 201 may performa lookup on the first database to determine how many sessions areassigned to each tunnel, and select tunnels for new sessionsaccordingly. For example, if a first tunnel is already being used totransmit a large number of sessions, and a second tunnel is not beingused to transmit many sessions, processing unit 201 may select thesecond tunnel for transmitting a new session, so that the first tunnelis not congested.

Depending on the design on processing unit 201 and/or network node,hashing process method and arbitrary number method may consume differentcomputing resources and result in preference in using one or anothermethod. It is also possible the difference in consuming computingresources is small that there is no performance difference in using oneor another method.

A hashing process may be applied in order to obtain a hash result, whichmay be a number that is in the range of 0 to the number of availabletunnels minus one. The hash result may be used to select a tunnel for asession. For example, the number of available tunnels from the pluralityof tunnels of the aggregated connection is 3. The hashing process thenmaps session information into numbers 1, 2 or 3, i.e. the hash result iseither 1, 2 or 3. Those skilled in the art would know that there arevarious hashing processes that may be applied to the session informationin order to obtain such hash result.

In one example, there are five tunnels established between network node106 and network node 108, namely first, second, third, fourth, and fifthtunnel. The five tunnels may be established using different combinationsof network interfaces of network node 106 and network node 108. Forillustration purposes, in one variant, the tunnel IDs assigned to thetunnels may also be a number that is in the range of 0 to the number ofavailable tunnels-1, such that the hash result is equal to the tunnel IDof one of the tunnels. The first, second, third fourth, and fifthtunnels may be assigned with tunnel IDs 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively.Alternatively, in another variant, the tunnel ID assigned to the tunnelsmay be any character string or number. Tunnel IDs corresponding to eachhash result may be recorded in order to determine a tunnel ID based on ahash result. In order to determine which tunnel should be used fortransmitting packets of a session, the following formula may be applied:

Hash result=(Session Information) modulo (Number of available tunnels)

The hash result is used to select a tunnel for transmitting the packetby determining tunnel ID. The tunnel ID is determined according to thehash result.

In one example, for illustration purposes, session information is basedon source IP address and destination IP address. A packet received atnetwork node 106 has source IP address 123.123.12.1 and destination IPaddress 456.456.45.4. The session information can be any combination ofthe source IP address and the destination IP address. For simplicity,session information may be an integer number obtained from the sum ofthe source IP address and the destination IP address, i.e. sessioninformation is 123123121+456456454, which is 579579575. When there arefive available tunnels, according to the formula described above fordetermining a tunnel ID:

Hash result=579579575 modulo 5=0

Therefore, the first tunnel with tunnel ID 0 is selected fortransmitting packets belonging to the session with the correspondingsession information.

In another example, for illustration purposes, session information isbased on destination port number, source IP address and destination IPaddress. A packet received at network node 106 has source IP address123.123.12.1, destination IP address 456.456.45.4 and destination portnumber 21. For simplicity, session information may be an integer numberobtained from the sum of a combination of the destination port numberand the source IP address and a combination of the destination portnumber and the destination IP address. The combination of thedestination port number and the source IP address may be obtained byconcatenation, i.e. 12312312121. The combination of the destination portnumber and the destination IP address may also be obtained byconcatenation, i.e. 45645645421. The session information, which is thesum of the two combinations, is 12312312121+45645645421, which is57957957542. When there are five available tunnels, according to theformula described above for determining a tunnel ID:

Hash result=57957957542 modulo 5=2

Therefore, the third tunnel with tunnel ID 2 is selected fortransmitting packets belonging to the session with the correspondingsession information.

In another example, for illustration purposes, session information isbased on source IP address and destination IP address. A packet receivedat network node 106 has source IP address 123.123.12.1 and destinationIP address 456.456.45.4. The session information can be any combinationof the source IP address and the destination IP address. For simplicity,session information may be an integer number obtained from the sum ofthe source IP address and the destination IP address, i.e. sessioninformation is 123123121+456456454, which is 579579575. The number ofavailable tunnels is 3, namely, a first tunnel, a second tunnel, and athird tunnel. When there are three available tunnels, according to theformula described above for determining a tunnel ID:

Hash result=579579575 modulo 3=2

For example, a tunnel ID is determined based on the hash result, and thetunnel ID corresponding to hash result 2 is the tunnel ID of the secondtunnel. The tunnel ID may be a character string. Therefore, the secondtunnel is selected for transmitting packets belonging to the sessionwith the corresponding session information. For illustration purposes,processing unit 201 may record in secondary storage 204 that tunnel IDcorresponding to hash result of 1 is 001A, which is the tunnel ID of thefirst tunnel. Therefore, if hash result is determined to be 1 for asession, the first tunnel is selected for transmitting the session. Itmay further be recorded that tunnel ID corresponding to hash result of 2is 0B23, which is the tunnel ID of the second tunnel. Therefore, if hashresult is determined to be 2 for a session, the second tunnel isselected for transmitting the session.

In one variant, when the session information is based on source IPaddress and destination IP address, the session information may aninteger number obtained by concatenating the source IP address and thedestination IP address. For example, when source IP address is123.123.12.1 and destination IP address is 456.456.45.4, the sessioninformation may be 123123121456456454.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention, weightsmay be assigned to each of the plurality of tunnels of an aggregatedconnection. The weights may be assigned by a user or administrator ofnetwork node 106 and/or network node 108. Alternatively, the weights maybe assigned by processing unit 201 according to a policy. The policy maybe based on one or more of the following criteria: performance of thetunnels, service provider, usage limit, location, time, usage price,security, user identity, Internet Protocol address range, communicationprotocol, communication technology, application, and device. When thepolicy is based on performance of the tunnels, the selection may beperformed according to performance metrics such as throughput, errorrates, packet latency, packet jitter, symbol jitter, quality of service,bandwidth, bit error rate, packet error rate, frame error rate, droppedpacket rate, queuing delay, round trip time, capacity, signal level,interference level, bandwidth delay product, handoff delay time,signal-to-interface ratio, and signal-to-noise ratio.

The weights are assigned such that the higher the weight assigned to atunnel, the higher number of sessions the tunnel may be selected for.For example, a first tunnel is assigned with the highest weight, asecond tunnel is assigned with the second highest weight, and a thirdtunnel is assigned with the lowest weight. For illustration purpose, theweights assigned to the first, second and third tunnels are 50%, 30% and20% respectively. Therefore, the first tunnel may be selected forapproximately 50% of the sessions, the second tunnel may be selected forapproximately 30% of the sessions, and the third tunnel may be selectedfor approximately 20% of the sessions.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention, weightsare assigned to each of the plurality of tunnels by configuring thenumber of hash results that correspond to each tunnel. For example, anarbitrary number is used for obtaining hash results for sessions. Thefollowing formula may be applied in order to obtain the hash result:

Hash result=(Session Information) modulo (Arbitrary number)

The hash result would range from 0 to arbitrary number-1. Forillustration purpose, there are three available tunnels, namely first,second and third tunnel. The arbitrary number used for obtaining thehash result is 10. The hash result is then a number in the range of 0 to9. Processing unit 201 is configured such that, if hash result for asession is in the range of 0 to 3, the session should be transmittedthrough the first tunnel; if hash result for a session is in the rangeof 4 to 8, the session should be transmitted through the second tunnel;if hash result for a session is 9, the session should be transmittedthrough the third tunnel. In this way, the weights assigned to thefirst, second and third tunnel are in the ratio 4:5:1 respectively. Fourhash results correspond to the first tunnel, five hash resultscorrespond to the second tunnel, and one hash result correspond to thethird tunnel.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention, when atunnel is selected for transmitting packets belonging to a particularsession from network node 106 to network node 108, it is preferred touse the same tunnel for receiving packets belonging to the particularsession from network node 108. In one variant, in order to ensure thatpackets belonging to the particular session are transmitted and receivedthrough the same tunnel, a second database may be stored in a storagemedium of network node 108 or in a remote server accessible by networknode 108. The second database contains information regarding whichtunnel is selected for which session information at network node 108.For example, a video conferencing session is to be established betweenlaptop 112 and host 121. When a first packet belonging to the videoconferencing session, i.e. a packet that arrives the earliest, isreceived by network node 106 from laptop 112, network node 106 mayperform the process of FIG. 4 to select a tunnel for the videoconferencing session. For the first packet, network node 106 may need toapply the hashing process to session information of the videoconferencing session in step 404. A tunnel, namely the first tunnel, isthen selected according to hash result and the first packet istransmitted through the first tunnel. The first tunnel is thereforeselected for the video conferencing session. The first database maycontain session information of the video conferencing session and tunnelID of the first tunnel selected for the video conferencing session. Fornetwork node 106, the session information may comprise information ofthe source IP address (IP address of laptop 112), destination IP address(IP address of host 121), and destination port number.

On the other hand, when network node 108 receives a packet belonging tothe video conferencing session from host 121, it uses the seconddatabase to determine which tunnel should be used for transmittingpackets of the video conferencing session to laptop 112 through networknode 106. The entries in the second database may be a reversed form ofthe entries in the first database, which is explained in greater detailbelow. Network node 106 may inform network node 108 that the firsttunnel is selected for the video conferencing session. Sessioninformation of the video conferencing session, as recorded in the firstdatabase, may also be sent to network node 108. Network node 108 thenrecords in the second database the information that the first tunnel isselected for the video conferencing session. The second database maycontain session information of the video conferencing session forpackets transmitted from host 121 to laptop 112. The session informationin the second database may comprise information of the source IP address(IP address of host 121), destination IP address (IP address of laptop112), and port number of host 121 used for the video conferencingsession. Therefore, when packets belonging to the video conferencingsession arrive at network node 108 from host 121, network node 108performs a lookup on the second database. According to the sessioninformation recorded in the second database, network node 108 thentransmits the packets belonging to the video conferencing sessionthrough the first tunnel to network node 106.

For a session whose session information is already comprised in thefirst database, the reason why a hashing process is not performed atnetwork node 108 is so that packets belonging to the particular sessionare transmitted and received through the same tunnel. If a hashingprocess is applied to the same session information at network node 108,it is possible that the hash result generated at network node 108 is notthe same as the hash result generated at network node 106. Therefore,consequently, a tunnel selected at network node 108 for transmitting thesession to network node 106 may not be the same as a tunnel selected atnetwork node 106 for transmitting the session to network node 108.Packets belonging to the session are then transmitted and received atnetwork node 106 through different tunnels. In order to avoid this, thesecond database is used by network node 108 to determine which tunnelshould be used for transmitting packets of the session to network node106.

According to one of the embodiments of the present invention, a tunnelused for transmitting packets of a session from network node 106 tonetwork node 108 may or may not be the same as a tunnel used fortransmitting packets of the same session from network node 108 tonetwork node 106. Network node 106 may transmit packets of a session andreceive packets of the same session through two different tunnelsrespectively. For example, in an FTP session, most data may betransmitted from a server to a client rather than client to server. Theperformance requirement for transmitting data from a server to a clientis most likely to be different, i.e. better, than the performancerequirement for transmitting data from a client to a server. Forillustration purpose, an FTP session is to be established between host111 and server 122, where host 111 is a client. When a first packetbelonging to the FTP session, i.e. a packet that arrives the earliest,is received by network node 106 from host 111, network node 106 mayperform the process of FIG. 4 and select a tunnel, namely a firsttunnel, for transmitting packets of the FTP session to network node 108.The first database may contain session information of the FTP sessionand information that the first tunnel is selected for the FTP session.The session information may comprise information of the source IPaddress (IP address of host 111), destination IP address (IP address ofserver 122), and destination port number (preferably port 21 of server122).

When network node 108 receives a packet belonging to the FTP sessionfrom server 122, and the packet is the earliest packet that arrived atnetwork node 108 from server 122, network node 108 may perform theprocess of FIG. 4 to select a tunnel, namely a second tunnel, fortransmitting the packet, and other packets of the FTP session to host111 through network node 106. The first tunnel may or may not be thesame as the second tunnel. Session information of the FTP session andinformation of that the second tunnel is selected for the FTP sessionmay be recorded in the second database. The first database may containsession information of the FTP session and information that the firsttunnel is selected for the FTP session. The session information maycomprise information of the source IP address (IP address of server122), destination IP address (IP address of host 111), and destinationport number.

In one variant, for illustration purpose, when network node 106 performsthe process of FIG. 4 for the FTP session, a first, a second, and athird tunnel are considered as available tunnels, as the bandwidth limitand performances of the first, second and third tunnel are satisfactoryfor transmitting packets from host 111 to server 122. After performingthe hashing process, any one of the first, second and third tunnels maybe selected for transmitting packets belonging to the FTP session. Forillustration purpose, network node 108 determines that the performanceof the third tunnel is not satisfactory for transmitting packetsbelonging to the FTP session from server 122 to host 111. Therefore,when network node 108 performs the process illustrated in FIG. 4 for theFTP session, only the first and second tunnels are considered asavailable tunnels, as the performances of the first and second tunnelsare satisfactory for transmitting packets from server 122 to host 111.After performing the hashing process, any one of the first and secondtunnels may be selected for transmitting packets belonging to the FTPsession.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process for monitoring tunnels according to one ofthe embodiments of the present invention. After processing unit 201determines to transmit packets belonging to a particular session througha tunnel, which may be considered as a first tunnel in step 304,processing unit 201 monitors the state of the first tunnel in step 501.A trigger may be received by processing unit 201 when the first tunnelis dropped, broken or terminated. A trigger may also be received whenthe performance of the first tunnel deteriorates and becomes lower thana predefined threshold. If the trigger has not been received in step502, the process ends in step 506. If the trigger is received in step502, processing unit 201 determines to select a new tunnel fortransmitting packets belonging to the particular session. In order toselect a new tunnel, processing unit 201 again applies a hashing processto the session information of the particular session in step 503.Processing unit 201 may then select and determine the new tunnel in step504 according to a hash result generated after applying the hashingprocess. The new tunnel may now be considered as the first tunnel. Thesession information and tunnel ID of the new tunnel is then stored in afirst database in step 505, and the process ends in step 506. Steps 503,504 and 505 may be similar to steps 404, 405, and 406 of FIG. 4respectively. Processing unit 201 performs the process of FIG. 5continually for a plurality of tunnels established between network node106 and network node 108.

The trigger in step 502 may be generated and sent by a module ofprocessing unit 201 that monitors the status of tunnels establishedbetween network node 106 and network node 108. The trigger may then bereceived by another module of processing unit 201 that performs theprocess illustrated in FIG. 5.

According to one of the embodiments, when the first tunnel is selectedfor multiple sessions, namely a first, a second and a third session, anda trigger is received, other tunnel(s) may be selected for few or all ofthe sessions. For example, if the trigger is received and processingunit 201 determines that the first tunnel is dropped, broken orterminated, then other tunnel(s) are selected for all of the multiplesessions, i.e. to continue transmitting packets belonging to the first,second and third sessions. For illustration purposes, a second tunnelmay be selected for the first session and the second session, and athird tunnel may be selected for the third session. Alternatively, thesecond tunnel may be selected for the first, second, and third session.In another example, if the trigger is received and processing unit 201determines that the first tunnel is not dropped, broken, or terminated,but the performance of the first tunnel has deteriorated, then othertunnel(s) may be selected for few or all of the sessions. For example,the multiple sessions that the first tunnel was initially selected forinclude a video conferencing session, an instant messaging session, anda FTP session. Network node 106 may determine to select another tunnelfor the video conferencing session and the instant messaging session,but continue using the first tunnel for the FTP session. Network node106 may be configured by a user or administrator to give lower priorityto FTP sessions, such that tunnels with poor performance may be used forFTP sessions. Therefore, packets belonging to the FTP session maycontinue to be transmitted through the first tunnel, even though theperformance of the first tunnel has deteriorated. It should beappreciated that different sessions may have different performancerequirements, and therefore, all sessions of a particular tunnel may notneed to be transmitted through other tunnels.

In one variant, processing unit 201 keeps the first tunnel establishedeven when the performance of the first tunnel deteriorates. The firsttunnel may be used for transmitting management packets, health-checkpackets, error-correction packets, or the like when its performance hasdeteriorated. Processing unit 201 may further monitor the performance ofthe first tunnel. In one example, if processing unit 201 determines thatthe performance of the first tunnel has improved and has been betterthan the predefined threshold for a predefined time period, then thefirst tunnel may again be selected for the session(s) that it wasinitially selected for.

In one variant, if processing unit 201 determines that the performanceof the first tunnel has improved and has been better than the predefinedthreshold for a predefined time period, then the first tunnel may beconsidered as an available tunnel for being selected for new sessions.

The trigger and the predefined threshold may be configured by a user oradministrator of network node 106. The user or administrator mayconfigure when the trigger should be sent by the module of processingunit 201 that monitors the status of tunnels, i.e. events, such as thetunnel dropping or the performance deteriorating, at which the triggershould be sent.

The benefit of using an aggregated connection instead of load-balancing,may be that, since the plurality of tunnels are aggregated in anaggregated connection, it may be comparatively easier and faster toswitching to another tunnel for transmitting packets of a session whilethe session is still established. This is because the aggregatedconnection is perceived as a single connection, and the packets areassigned with global sequence numbers when they are transmitted throughan aggregated connection. Thus the packets can be reordered at networknode 108.

FIG. 6 is a simple illustration of the contents of a database, such asthe first database. Table 600 comprises session information column 601and tunnel ID column 602. Tunnel ID column 602 comprises tunnel IDscorresponding to the session information comprised in sessioninformation column 601. For example, a first tunnel with tunnel ID 1 isselected for transmitting a first session with session information123123121 and a third session with session information 45645645421. Asecond tunnel with tunnel ID 2 is selected for transmitting a secondsession with session information 456456454.

Processing unit 201 continually monitors the status of the first andsecond tunnels as shown in step 501 of FIG. 5. For example, when thefirst tunnel is dropped, a trigger is received for the first tunnel instep 502. Processing unit 201 then applies a hashing process to sessioninformation of sessions that were corresponding to the first tunnel,i.e. the first session and the third session. Therefore, a hashingprocess is applied to session information 123123121 and 45645645421.Table 610 comprises session information column 601 and tunnel ID column603. Tunnel ID column 603 comprises tunnel IDs corresponding to thesession information comprised in session information column 601. Asillustrated in Table 610, after receiving the trigger and applying thehashing process, a third tunnel with tunnel ID 3 is selected fortransmitting the first session and the third session.

It is not necessary that the first session and the third session aretransmitted through the same tunnel. Different tunnels may be selectedfor sessions that were previously being transmitted through the sametunnel. Table 620 comprises session information column 601 and tunnel IDcolumn 604. Tunnel ID column 604 comprises tunnel IDs corresponding tothe session information comprised in session information column 601. Asillustrated in Table 620, after receiving the trigger and applying thehashing process, a third tunnel with tunnel ID 3 is selected fortransmitting the first session and the second tunnel with tunnel ID 2 isselected for transmitting the third session.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications, to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention andvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates a network environment according to variousembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1B illustrates system adapted according to embodiments showingtunnels between two network nodes.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative block diagram of a network node according toone of the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process according to one of theembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process according to one of theembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a process for monitoring tunnels according to one ofthe embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a simple illustration of the contents of a database accordingto one of the embodiments of the present invention.

1. A method for transmitting a received packet at a first network nodethrough an aggregated connection, wherein the aggregated connectioncomprising a plurality of tunnels, comprising the steps of: (a)determining session information of the received packet; (b) determiningwhether a new tunnel needs to be selected; (c) when a new tunnel needsto be selected: (i) determining a hash result, wherein the hash resultis substantially based on the session information and the number ofavailable tunnels; (ii) determining a first tunnel for transmitting thereceived packet according to the hash result; (iii) storing the sessioninformation and corresponding tunnel ID of the first tunnel in a firstdatabase; (iv) transmitting the received packet through the firsttunnel; (d) when a new tunnel need not be selected: (i) performing alookup to determine a tunnel ID substantially based on the sessioninformation; (ii) determining a tunnel for transmitting the receivedpacket based on the tunnel ID; (iii) transmitting the received packetthrough the determined tunnel.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thesession information is based, at least in part, on one or more of asource Internet Protocol (IP) address, a destination IP address, asource media access control (MAC) address, a destination MAC address, avirtual local area network (VLAN) tag, a source port number, and adestination port number.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) isperformed when the received packet is a first of a session.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein step (c) is performed when a second tunnel isdropped, broken, or terminated, wherein the second tunnel has been usedto transmit one or more sessions.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein whenthe second tunnel is dropped, broken, or terminated, one or more newtunnels are selected for the one or more sessions respectively.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein step (c) is performed when performance of athird tunnel deteriorates, wherein the third tunnel has been used totransmit one or more sessions.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theavailable tunnels are assigned with weights.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the weights are assigned according to a policy, wherein thepolicy is based on one or more of the following criteria: performance ofthe tunnels, service provider, usage limit, location, time, usage price,security, user identity, IP address range, communication protocol,communication technology, application, and device.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising sending the session information andcorresponding tunnel ID of the first tunnel to a second network node,wherein the second network node stores the session information andcorresponding tunnel ID of the first tunnel in a second database. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the second network node transmits packetswith the session information to the first network node through the firsttunnel.
 11. A system for transmitting a received packet at a firstnetwork node through an aggregated connection, wherein the aggregatedconnection comprising a plurality of tunnels established between thefirst network node and a second network node, the first network nodecomprising: a plurality of network interfaces; at least one processingunit; at least one main memory; at least one secondary storage storingprogram instructions executable by the at least one processing unit forthe steps of: (a) determining session information of the receivedpacket; (b) determining whether a new tunnel needs to be selected; (c)when a new tunnel needs to be selected: (i) determining a hash result,wherein the hash result is substantially based on the sessioninformation and the number of available tunnels; (ii) determining afirst tunnel for transmitting the received packet according to the hashresult; (iii) storing the session information and corresponding tunnelID of the first tunnel in a first database; (iv) transmitting thereceived packet through the first tunnel; (d) when a new tunnel need notbe selected: (i) performing a lookup to determine a tunnel IDsubstantially based on the session information; (ii) determining atunnel for transmitting the received packet based on the tunnel ID;(iii) transmitting the received packet through the determined tunnel.12. The system of claim 11, wherein the session information is based, atleast in part, on one or more of a source IP address, a destination IPaddress, a source MAC address, a destination MAC address, a VLAN tag, asource port number, and a destination port number.
 13. The system ofclaim 11, wherein step (c) is performed when the received packet is afirst of a session.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein step (c) isperformed when a second tunnel is dropped, broken, or terminated,wherein the second tunnel has been used to transmit one or moresessions.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein when the second tunnel isdropped, broken, or terminated, one or more new tunnels are selected forthe one or more sessions respectively.
 16. The system of claim 11,wherein step (c) is performed when performance of a third tunneldeteriorates, wherein the third tunnel has been used to transmit one ormore sessions.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the available tunnelsare assigned with weights.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein theweights are assigned according to a policy, wherein the policy is basedon one or more of the following criteria: performance of the tunnels,service provider, usage limit, location, time, usage price, security,user identity, IP address range, communication protocol, communicationtechnology, application, and device.
 19. The system of claim 11, furthercomprising sending the session information and corresponding tunnel IDof the first tunnel to the second network node, wherein the secondnetwork node stores the session information and corresponding tunnel IDof the first tunnel in a second database.
 20. The system of claim 19,wherein the second network node transmits packets with the sessioninformation to the first network node through the first tunnel.